police have locked down parts of the boston area, as they chase a man they consider responsible for the marathon bombings. a second suspect is dead. pakistanormer president is under arrest. and his political future is uncertain. pervez musharraf is accused of committing crimes while he was in office. and many chinese are taking precautions to protect themselves against a new strain of bird flu. some are steering clear of poultry. welcome to nhk world "newsline."

u.s. authorities are carrying out a large-scale manhunt around the city of boston, searching for a suspect they believe is responsible for the city's marathon bombings. a second suspect is dead. media says they're brothers from chechnya. investigators accuse the men of killing a security guard earlier at the massachusetts institute of technology in cambridge. police say the pair car jacked a vehicle after that to make their escape. reuters reports they kept the driver hostage for about a half hour. officers caught up with them in nearby watertown. they engaged in a gunfight. residents heard shots and explosions. after police captured one of the suspects, they announced he had died.

boston political identified the man on the run as the one in the white hat. they say he is 19 years old. the dead suspect was 26 years old. the brothers had been in the united states for several years. >> we believe this to be a terrorist. a man that's come here to kill people. we need to get him in custody. >> remain in your home, we're going through doing a serge, please stay in your homes, do not come out. >> authorities say people in watertown and surrounding communities should stay in doors until they get the all clear. authorities have also shut down public transportation in the area. mit, harvard, and boston university have canceled lectures. now to the latest developments on the korean peninsula, a high ranking

official is preparing to take off. he chairs the six-party talks on north korea's nuclear program. the negotiations have been stalled for more than four years. a chinese foreign ministry person says he has been invited. the spokesperson said they're discussions focus on maintaining peace and stability in the korean peninsula and keeping it free of nuclear weapons. wu is expected to stay from washington to sunday. for more perspective, we're joined live by richard bush, a director at the brookings institution center. he has spent two decades serving in public institutions including the u.s. congress and state department. mr. bush, north korea's leadership appears to be holding firm on their stance. what are the options for the obama administration to stop

north korea's can escalating threats? >> actually it seems that the current crisis may be winding down. north korea's rhetoric seems to have toned down a little bit. they could, of course, make another kind of attack. but the main option for the obama administration is to stick firm with it's policies trying to shape the choices of north korea so that we can get back to the six party talks. >> as we just reported, china's chief negotiator is set to visit the u.s. next week. to what extend do you think china is willing to use it's influence? china is sometimes able to use it's influence to get north korea to the negotiating table. it is less able to use influence to shape north korea's negotiating position, and that's

the problem. north korea's goals here, and it's negotiabling stance, or opposed to those of the united states, japan, and south korea. so the question that ambassador davies will probably be asking, is what evidence is there that north korea is interested in negotiating in a manner with the six party talks, and if they make commitments that they will keep them. >> what do you think china's response to that will be? >> china's response will probably be -- it's only if we start a process of contacts and talking and negotiating that we will see what is possible in the long term. our response is liable to be

that question have a lot of experience doing that. and north korea has repeatedly renigged on it's commitments and it's now talking on a way that's opposed. >> you talk about the rhetoric being toned down, what should we expect is next, anything, from north korea? >> as i say, we can't rule out that in the next week or so something else will happen in the military sphere, but more likely over the next few weeks is a piece offensive. a -- a sort of campaign by north korea to say that let's forget about what happened in the early

part of 2013. we didn't mean it, we're prepared to talk peace, but let's do it on our terms. that is not going to be acceptable for the united states, or probably japan or south korea. >> thank you, mr. bush. that was mr. bush, director at the brookings center for northeast asian studies. pakistans former president is planning his next move. he is facing charges including the legal dismissile al of judg while in office. he was arrested after turning himself into the high

court on friday. he got power in 1992 when he was the countries army chief. he called the charges politically moderated saying he will fight the allegations in court. he resigned as president after losing support at the ballot box five years ago. after fleeing abroad, he lived in self-imposed exile until he decided to return to pakistan last month, ahead of the upcoming general election. >> where has the pakistan i left five years ago gone? i ask, where is that pakistan? where is that pakistan? my heart cries tears of blood when i see the state of the country today.

>> musharraf launched a new party to find the pakistani general election due on may 11th. but recent polls show the largest opposition party headed by former prime minister nawaz sharif and the party of legend turned politician are making their running. musharraf's party has more high profile figures besides him, and he's troubling for support. it appears to have little prospect of winning many seats. musharraf himself was already in a tight spot. his candidacy was not approved by election administration officials, who called in to question his dictatorial style of politics while in office. musharraf's arrest has raised speculation that his chances of a political comeback have faded. the former president's arrest is

shocking news for some pakistanis but for many it's something they had expected. the arrest is widely seen as having only a limited impact on the upcoming elections. nhk world, islamabad. the world health organization says there is no evidence that the new train of bird flu is spreading'dly among people in china. but the top official says the who will keep a close watch on the viruss close genetic mutations. >> we have not seen easy and sustained person to person transmission. this is the situation we're most vigilant. o 'leary says that over half of the patients infected with h7n9

had no contact with birds. the center for decide control and prevention, and china's health authority have been visiting patients in beijing and shanghai. 88 people have been infected, 17 have dies. the bird flu is taking it's toll not only on the people, but also on the economy. people are eliminating chicken and duck from their diet. this is causing serious damage to the poultry industry. city restaurants are losing a lot of money as many kmern vs. stopped ordering poultry fishes. orders have dropped off almost

50%. >> we're very concerned about the damage caused by unfounded rumors. it's a very serious situation for us. >> shoppers are also buying less poultry, both processed and unprocessed. so prices are falling. they're down by 20 to 30% since the first flu case was reported in beijing. and the price of eggs has also fallen by as much as 30%. >> translator: for the good of my health, i'm trying not to eat chicken. >> translator: i don't know how long this situation will last, but i'm really concerned. >> the spreading disease is having an impact on people's daily living. some are taking their own

preventive measures. this man works for a company in beijing. he began washing his hands more often, and gargling every morning and evening. helies with his wife and daughter. among them, they keep more than 50 medical masks. >> translator: i am very frightened about the outbreak. with the infection root and cause still unknown, i'm deeply concerned. in regions that have been infected -- authorities say they hope v found no evidence so far that humans are infecting other humans. but, they do say that some families of more than one

infected person. some officials say they can't discount the possibility that one family member is infecting others. an expert says much his still unknown about the infection root, byes government and research labs for the cause. >> i suspect a wild bird, and a wild bird to chicken infection. at this point even human to human is a ibility. we need to carefully watch the situation to determine the responses, and we cannot become optimistic. some estimate that the

outbreak caused $2.6 billion worth of damage to related industries. the outbreaks and the kbakd on the chinese economy and preventing a pandemic. nhk world, beijing. japan's finance minister and u.s. treasury secretary have met for the first time since they took office. aso sought u.s. understanding for japan's aggressive monotheir easing. they held talks on the sidelines of the g-20 meeting. they said that the monetary stimulus is aimed at guiding lower. they agreed on the importance of

abiding by a g-20 agreement in february. they pledged not to manipulate their exchange rates. they also exchanged views on north korea's provocations. they agrees they should join hands in strengthenning international sanctions on the north. they confirmed cooperation on transactions with the foreign trade bank. and japan has still not got approval from canada for partnership in the negotiations. there was support meetings with the senior officials. after the meetings, he told reporters that japan secured support from ten countries, but he addedhat the canadian officials needed more time to

make a final decision. tpp is aimed at promoting free trade in the pacific rim. let's take a look at the latest market figures. after years of debate and political wrangling, japan finally approved online election campaigning on friday the upper house has agreed to revise the public offices election law. people in the country will get their first taste of online campaigning, starting with this

summer's upper house race. nhk world has the details. >> reporter: the bill was passed unanimously by the upper house. from now on, political parties, candidates and voters will be allowed to enlist public support on websites and social networking services. japanese law has long limited the number of paper documents that can be distributed during official campaigns. the rule was meant to keep candidates with a financial edge from getting an unfair advantage. but the law, enacted in 1950, did not envision the internet. documents and images in cyber space have been regulated in the same way. japan has lagged behind other countries such as the united states, britain and germany, where there are few restrictions on internet election campaigning. >> translator: communication tools are completely different

from the old days. it's good to update the law. >> translator: i'm all for the revision. i'm busy with my job and child care and it's been hard to obtain certain information. >> reporter: the debate on lifting the ban on online campaigning began the late 1990s but lawmakers made little progress due partly to political wrangling. prime minister shinzo abe has advocated lifting the ban. >> translator: we should use the internet for publicity and to exchange information in election campaigns. online campaigning will help increase voter turnout. >> reporter: social media operators welcome the revisions. they say it will boost dialogue. and improve the quality of elections. however, critics are concerned

about the downside of anonymity. they say people could say that accounts impersonating candidates to smear and slander their opponents. south korean lifted a similar ban last year. but there were problems leading up to recent presidential elections when questionable information was decimated about certain candidates. the internet has become a part of our daily life. so it's only natural it be used in election campaigns. the internet can be helpful dissim nating information instantaneously but there are downsides. so in addition, they are coming up with regulations to make sure of proper use. both candidates and voters must learn how to distinguish between fact and fiction and not disseminate disputable information that could harm other candidates. nhk world, tokyo.

there is late season winter snow in northern china. rachel ferguson has more on that. yes, we have seen sleet and snow across northern portions of china. precipitation will be heading over from want continent into japan coming up across much of the country and temperatures here will be cooler as well. probably a good weekend to catch up on all of those chores. down towards the south we have that front bringing moderate rain, but every day we're seeing totals of 25 to 50 millimeters. so these daily accumulations are going to intensify the risk of flooding as well as land and mud slides if will be cooler too. let's talk about those temperatures then. 16 in beijing, it is an

improvement for you. 12 degrees certainly an improvement. we have a high of minus one, so definitely a little more comfortable for you. seoul, tokyo, and cooler temperatures to the south. so 25 in taipei, 26 in hong kong, and the mid 30s in manila there. this one is producing snow right down the rockies, heavy snow as well. and then we have our spring storm out east. some record flooding in the illinois river and in augusta you had about 24 millimeters of

rain. it will be wet right up into eastern canada. the severe storms are still likely from virginia down to the carolinas, but it will be more impact now. this storm has a history of producing tornadoes. we have reported in oklahoma and texas and one as far no , sas northwest in toronto. temperature wise, as you would expect, they will be falling as that cold front moves. nine degrees in chicago, that's a big drop for you. ahead of the front you will see the warmth across the ast. that will fall as the storm passes. on into europe, and starting to see things clear up for you in the past which is very welcome indeed. wet and windy all week. high pressure is moving in.

things will start to deteriorate in the central continent. you'll be seeing heavy rain, and even 20 to 40 millimeters of snow. temperature wise, it will be a bit chillier than it was during the week. i'll leave you now with your extended forecast.

an update now on our top story. heavily armed police in the

boston area are searching door to door for a suspect they believe is responsible for the boston marathon bombings. they have surrounded a house in watertown, a community that has been the focus of an hours long manhunt. a second suspect there died earlier following a gunfight with police. police say they are brothers from somewhere near chechnya. they say the pair carjacked a vehicle and escaped. reuters say they had them for a half hour and they engaged in a gunfight. after they announced one of the men died. they say he is considered armed and dangerous. they match surveillance images from the scene of the marathon

attack that killed three and wounded more than 170. boston police identified the man on want run as the one in the white hat. they say he is 19 years old. u.s. media say the dead suspect was 26 years old. they say the brothers have been in the united states for several years. we believe this to be a terrorist. we believe this to be a man who has come here to kill people. we need to get him in custody. >> remain in your home, we're going to be doing this search, please stay in your homes, do not come out. >> authorities say people in watertown and surrounding communities should stay in their vehicles until they get the all clear. authorities also shut down public transportation in the area, mit, harvard, and boston university have canceled lectured. that's "newsline" for this hour. i'm gene otani in tokyo.

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